PopTart Prediction
by VO1
Summary: Raye falls asleep in her dorm room and dreams of the future...but is she just dreaming?


Bryce University is completely made up, any relation is purely coincidental.

"I wake up scared,

I wake up strange,

I wake up wondering if anything in my life

is ever going to change…" Barenaked Ladies

"I can't help that I like to be kissed

And I wouldn't mind if my name was changed to Mrs…

Who will be the one to marry me?"

"Marry Me"

No Doubt

"Oh my God, Mina, could you give me some help here?" Rei pulled her blond, extremely drunk friend up the next few stairs, a difficult endeavor in itself, but when coupled with the fact that she herself had thrown back a few, and that Mina was a good head taller than her, all willowy limbs, it compounded into a near impossibility.

Mina slurred her sentence into unintelligible rambling, and tried to lift one of her feet. She missed the next stair and fell sideways, pulling Rei down with her. Rei's body cracked heavily against the aluminum railing. "OW! Damn!" Rei swore, rubbing her sore hip. "Mina, you are going to hear it so bad tomorrow! I'm going to kick your ass for all this shit you're putting me through!" It was three in the morning; they two girls were returning from a party at TKE that was presently still going on, but Mina had passed out and Rei felt it would be prudent to get her out of there before any of the frat boys smelled drunk freshman DZ. They had snuck into a friend's first floor window to avoid the anally retentive RA planted at the front desk with a late sign-in sheet, and the only obstacle left was the single flight of stairs leading to the second floor.

Finally, Rei had had enough and, after looking around to see if anyone was looking, picked Mina physically off of the floor and carried her the rest of the way to their room.

"AAHH." Mina spread her arms out on her bed. "My bed. Gonna sleep now."

"Want some water?" Rei pulled a plastic bottle out of the mini-fridge. "Sure." She held it out. Mina didn't take it, or make any other move to try. Sighing, Rei unscrewed the cap and stuffed it in her friend's hand. "Don't spill, that, OK? I'm not cleaning water up in the middle of the night. She pulled out a pair of shorts and a worn tank, and slipped out of her party clothes and into her nightwear.

"What did you think of that guy?" Mina muttered, doing her best to take off her shirt without falling over.

Rei rolled her eyes. "Oh that guy, yeah, that narrows it down. Get yourself together, Mina, the entire place was guys. Which one?" If she takes any longer to undo those buttons…GAH! I'll just do it. She pulled Mina's clothes off and helped her redress. "You are a mess, girlfriend. You better get on your knees and thank me for not leaving you with those TKEs." "The one you were talking to!" Mina's mind ignored Rei's reprimand and was still stuck on the previous conversation. "The cute one." Rei tucked Mina in and busied herself with the sheets on her bed. "One, they all were cute. And two, I was only talking to him because we were trying to decide what to do with your drunken ass! He wanted to give us a ride home." "Did he?"

"No, Trish did, remember? Oh wait, you obviously don't."

Mina giggled. "Aw, Rei, you need a man."

"No I don't." I don't. I'm all I need. I don't mind.

"Yes you do! And we're going to find one for you this year."

Rei rearranged her pillows and flopped on her bed. "Get off it, Mina.

I'm never going to find a guy."

"See, you keep saying that, but I don't think you believe it. I've seen you stare at that rugby player!"

"Who? Mike? Yeah, because he seems to never be wearing a shirt." Her mind flashed back to the previous day, when she was walking across campus. A few guys had put together an impromptu football game, and were bashing the heck out of each other in front of their audience of female gawkers. She watched them as she passed by, almost hypnotized by their rippling muscles, too far away to discern their faces. The Hot Rugby Mike was one of the players, she was sure of that. There was no way she wouldn't recognize an ass like that. The ball flew out of bounds, and a blond guy with extremely tight abs ran to retrieve it. As he neared, Rei squinted at his face. Is that…? No, why wouldn't his dweeby Negaverse ass be attacking or something? Plus, everyone seems to recognize him. She stuck her hand in her purse and clasped her fingers around her henshin pen, just in case, but then the entire team jogged off towards a bespectacled, long-haired, hippie-looking guy with a very large, expensive-looking camera. She yawned and fluffed the covers around her. College was great; it was full of new experiences, new friends, and it was at least an ocean away from Yuuichiro.

What a dork. She never really knew why she got involved with him, but suspected it had to do with the fact that it seemed everyone in her school had a boyfriend, and what better way to best them than to have the OLDEST, the CUTEST, the most FAMOUS boyfriend? He had money, that was for sure, and she loved showing off the various gifts he had bestowed upon her. Even Serena would get a little green sometimes.

Then came the day that she realized that she hated him. Not just dislike, but total, absolutely hated him. He always liked Grandpa. He thought he would look better to him if he was going out with me.

Sadly, it was the truth. To fall into the old man's favors, Yuuichiro mistakenly thought that dating Rei was the way to go. On the extremely long, boring plane ride to America, Rei had spent a few hours staring out at the fluffy white clouds and trying to reason why she had wasted so much time on him. "Mina, why don't I care?"

"Because hon, you never shared anything with him. Did you ever tell him about what you wanted to do with your life? Did you ever tell him about your mom? You must not have trusted him, and now that he's gone, it's just like dropping excess baggage. C'mon, cheer up, we're going to college and it'll be FULL of guys!" Rei shuffled her comforter around her, and something hard and scratchy brushed against her leg. "Eww…who left a Pop-Tart on my bed? Was it you?" "I think it was Serena."

"Figures," Rei muttered, swiping crumbs off of her sheets. The thought of her short blond friend made her simultaneously smile and quake with internal jealousy. Why does she get to have such an awesome boyfriend? Oh, man, life is just SUPREMELY sucking right now!

"I'm never going to have a boyfriend."

"What are you talking about?" Mina's voice was growing sleepier.

"Seventh floor Chris is totally digging you; you just never give him a chance." "That's because he's a pothead. He told me my eyes reminded him of the colors he saw at the Further Fest when he was tripping." Mina giggled again. "Ok, so he's not perfect."

"He's far from perfect. He's not worthy of me." She fiddled with the scrap of Pop-Tart in her hands, started picking off the confetti-colored sprinkles. "I just wish I knew who I was going to marry. Just so I know that I won't be alone and living with 400 cats for the rest of my life." "Put a piece of wedding cake under your pillow."

"What?"

Mina rolled over. "It's like an old wives' tale: if you put a piece of wedding cake under your pillow, you'll dream of the person that you're going to marry. And there's nothing wrong with living with cats, thank you very much. Now would you please turn off the lights and shut up so I can fall asleep before I start puking? Thank you."

Rei sighed and clicked off her bedside lamp. And where am I supposed to get wedding cake? The dining hall? She was about to throw the Pop-Tart scrap in the general direction of the garbage can when she stopped and stared at it in the dark.

Will it work? She lifted her head and slid it under her pillow. What the hell, it's worth a shot. And if it doesn't work I can blame it on Mina.

She fell asleep with the smell of strawberry filling on her fingers.

Even without the rough night, Rei could not bring herself to leave her bed. Unknowingly, she had awoke at the crack of dawn, a habit she had developed from years of living at the temple, and had merely rolled over and buried herself back into the heat pocket her body had created. She thought she heard someone talking to her, the vocal articulation reduced to a meaningless buzzing in her semi-conscious mind. Dismissing it as Mina or the TV, she let herself slip back through the layers of comfortable oblivion. She snuggled in deeper, burying her face in the cloud-like softness of the pillow against her cheek. Her entire body was cushioned; it felt like she was sleeping on a bed of feathers. She let her mind blank out again, only minimally aware of the warm sunlight shining down on her bed and heating her skin and the breeze wafting in from the open window.

When she rose through the stages of sleep and back into the waking world, the breeze became a little irritating. Did Mina leave the window open? I'm going to kill her. She stirred in her cocoon of warmth, the soft cotton brushing against her naked body… Naked?

She opened her eyes and saw nothing but white at first. For a split second, she entertained the notion that she was dead, until she realized that she was laying in a very big, very soft bed full of white sheets and pillows and a goose-down comforter. The ceiling above her was also white, and about twenty feet up. The last time I checked, the rooms in Goshin Hall are not equipped with cathedral ceilings. She sat up, startled, near panic, and realized that she was naked. Very naked. She pulled the covers over her chest and frantically searched the room for any sign of familiarity.

I'm dreaming, that's it. I'm really back in my tiny little bed in my cinderblock room of Goshin Hall. It's all that Keystone light I drank, that's what's giving me these weird dreams. She was lying in the center of a huge white canopy bed, with transparent white draped covering the canopy and winding down the bedposts, which, upon closer inspection, were made of a very dark, very polished wood. The bed itself was a good four feet off the ground; Rei noticed when she threw her feet over the side and almost fell off when her feet didn't touch the ground.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed, jumping off. Her feet sank in at least two inches of cream-colored carpet. She wiggled her toes, unaccustomed to the feeling of plushness under her feet instead of the thin, scratchy, industrial floor covering of her dorm. She looked around. "Whoa," she breathed. The room was huge, far bigger than anything she was accustomed to. This bedroom alone was bigger than Darien's entire apartment. It even had a few stairs leading down to what she supposed was a lounging area, with several tan couches and glass coffee tables. A flat screen television the size of a pool table was hung on one wall across from the sitting area, taking up most of the available wall. Rei resisted the urge to flip it on, lest she break it and then be forced to sell her body to replace it.

"Oh." Every one of the numerous tables had a glass vase full of Casablancas; some in huge bunches, others only having an artsy single flower per vase.

OK, now I know I'm dead. Why else would someone put my favorite flower all over their bedroom? Their…big, expensive, friggin' BEAUTIFUL bedroom? She rubbed her naked arms, a little-girl response to the overwhelming anxiety. Dreams are never this real. I can think clearly, I can feel the carpet under my feet; I can hear my own voice. If this is not a dream, then where the hell am I? Did I black out last night and end up going somewhere? Even as she entertained the possibility, she knew it to be false. She could distinctly remember falling asleep in her own room, in her own bed, and besides, she hadn't drank that much. She accidentally scratched her right arm as she was rubbing it. "Ouch!" She glanced down at the scratch, and almost fainted.

She was wearing two rings on her left hand, the kind you see advertised on bus stops and billboards and such for Tiffany's. She brought her hand up to her face, studying them more carefully, afraid if she moved too quickly, they would explode with a "poof!" and evaporate in a cloud of dust. The first was a simple, silver-colored band, etched in a crisscross pattern, devoid of any other decoration. She examined it for a total of two seconds before her eyes locked on the second. Her mind searched for an expression that could embody a fraction of the overwhelming awe that rushed through her body and poured out of her strained voice like a river rushing though a hole in a dam.

"Holy shit." Her eyes skipped from the enormous diamond sparkling in the center like an eye of Osiris, its glittering brilliance almost eclipsing the two equally enormous rubies set on either side. She was enchanted by the way the stones caught the streaming sunlight and refracted it into a thousand points of luminous radiance. She tilted her hand up, and then down, playing with the glinting light like a small child. Her mouth, which had been hanging open in awe, turned upwards at the corners as an enormous grin stretched across her face. She laughed out loud, not knowing if she was more pleased at owning the friggin' Hope Diamond and its twin sisters or by the fact that it was confirmed that she was married. I'm married. She thought giddily, clasping her hands together. This is the future and I'm married! I'm not going to live alone with 400 cats! This must be my house! I have a gigantic, beautiful house and my husband loves me enough to buy me a diamond the size of Usagi's old odangos, and leave me flowers. She hopped up and down in an ecstatic circle before collecting herself. OK, Rei, that's enough victory dancing. What if he comes home and sees you hopping around like a bunny on crack? He'll leave you faster than you can say, "Goodbye gigantic diamond." "So who is he?" she said out loud. Her mind raced with the possibilities. For all she knew, he could be a jerk, or a quadruple amputee, or a sadist. All she knew of him was that he was wealthy. "Oh God, what if I married Yuuichiro?" Out loud, the possibility seemed that much more dire.

She caught a glance of herself in a mirror, at first not recognizing her own scared, pale face and round eyes staring back. She rushed to the silver plate, needing the familiarity of studying her own face. It hadn't changed in the least; not a wrinkle or a crease had appeared. She touched her cheek, amazed, wondering how far it was into the future that her eighteen-year old face remained before realization hit her. She wasn't going to age, ever, and her face was evidence. It would stay the same until she died. Her body, however… Rei had always had a good build: flat stomach, illegally long legs, perfect B-cups. Except now they were more like C-cups, she noticed, cupping her fingers underneath them and pushing them upward. When did I get hooters? Her stomach was still flat, but not the tight, washboard flat she was used to. It felt squishy, like a waterbed, she noted with disgust as she pushed her fingers into it. Turning sideways, she traced the faded pink stretch marks that scribbled each side of her abdomen like rills of rushing water. She rubbed them for a good five minutes before she understood. I had a baby. She thought as she examined her newer, more mature body. It made sense; her body had evolved into a mother's body, with larger breasts and stretch marks. Her mind switched back to the cause of it all. So where is it? Rei broke out of her stupor and headed for the door, determined to find both her baby and the identity of her husband, not realizing that both tasks would be a little easier if she wearing more than two rings and a dogged expression. A note taped to the door stopped her.

What the- She pulled it off, annoyed, and started reading.

Hey Zippo

Didn't want to wake you up, you looked too tired and too beautiful for me to disturb you. You look so cute when you sleep, you know that? Anyway, I'll probably be home late unless I can convince End and Kee to cut the shit short, which they probably won't. Remember that Patra and Ripken are Serenity's. Enjoy your day off, and DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING RELATED TO WORK. You haven't had a day off in four years. See you tonight. I love you, Rei.

me

If the note was any more cryptic, Rei decided, it could have been used to pass messages to the Germans instead of the Enigma machine. If her name hadn't been scrawled into the last sentence, she wouldn't have even known it related to her life, or her life as it was going to be. And Patra and Ripken had better be her pet Chihuahuas or something, because if she had named her children something as asinine as that, SOMEONE, it didn't matter who, was going to pay for her egregious error.

Patra and Ripken. Two names. "I have two children," she said aloud, letting the fact echo in the enormous room. Two of them. How old were they? Were they boys or girls? Or one of each? What did they look like?

Too many questions. Now I need answers. Rei decided. She tossed the note aside and through the door open with renewed determination, and promptly lost her breath.

The hallway stretched down another thirty feet or so, and the window at the end showed a hint of green foliage. Rei streaked down the hall, oblivious to the fact that she was completely naked, and when she reached the landing, she could do nothing but gasp and stare. It wasn't a window, it was a wall, and she was looking at it from a balcony across a room. Her eyes traveled downward to the spiral staircase in front of her, landing in the middle of an enormous living room, complete with fireplace, artsy looking glass and wood end tables, cream-colored couches so plush she longed to run over and throw her body onto them, and another colossal television. The ceiling rose forty feet over her head, and the entire wall facing her, from floor to ceiling, was glass. She stared out of the transparent wall at the forest below, so green and lush it could have been a movie set. The sky opened overhead into a vivid blue panorama, touching the horizon of blue water of the ocean. The greens and blues washed into her eyes and down her body into her throat, stealing her breathe and voice away. Oh my God. I live in friggin' Xanadu.

Her feet stayed hammered to the spot for a full five minutes, taking in the spectacular scene laid out before her, before a rudimentary idea formed in her head. If I can see out, that means…people can see in! And I'm naked! She darted back into her bedroom with a speed rivaling a gazelle being chased by a cheetah, slamming the door behind her. "Clothes," she muttered. "I need clothes." She stopped, and grabbed a tuft of raven hair that fell in her face. "Eww! Scratch that. Bath, I need bath." For the first time, Rei noticed that she was exuding a smell, her own smell mixed with perspiration and the smell of heat. It wasn't bad, per se, it reminded her of airtight dorm rooms, when the windows and doors were shut tight, and one or more occupants had been asleep in the room. When someone left that room, the first thing that hit them was the smell of fresh air, and upon returning one could smell the odor that had clogged up the room unbeknownst to the slumbering occupants. Amy's friend Erin, in Bedford Hall, had dubbed the stifling aroma "moofus," for want of a better word.

Rei took stock of her situation. From what she gathered, her children (or Chihuahuas) were staying with Serena, Serenity now, and were most likely safe and well taken care of for the time being. Her faceless husband was at work, wherever that was, and no one else was home. I guess I have time for a shower. I can't go outside with dirty hair, smelling like dead moofus. Now, where's my bathroom? After opening up several linen closets, Rei found the door to her bathroom. And what a bathroom. She was sick of gasping already, so she let out a muffled squeal instead upon seeing her enormous bathtub. It was the size of a twelve-person Jacuzzi, at least, so high that stairs had been carved into the white porcelain to enter it. Glass bottles, candles and Casablancas lined the sides, and the spigot was an enormous brass fish, standing on its tail with its mouth open. She decided on the spot to scrap her original intentions of showering, even though the shower was indeed impressive, with its waterfall showerhead and soft surround lighting, and bathe instead.

Like an eager child she ran up to the faucet and cranked both handles up, and water began pouring from the brass fish's mouth, filling up the gigantic bathtub. She picked up several glass bottles, noting with disdain and extreme exasperation that they were all unlabeled, until she found one filled with amber liquid that seemed to have the consistency of bubble bath, although it also could be shampoo. Taking her chances, she dumped a liberal amount under the stream, and internally gave a little victory cheer when foam started erupting in the water. A box of matches lay nearby; she struck one and lit the cream and red candles and was rewarded with the aroma of vanilla and cranberries. She lowered herself into the foam-capped water, her entire body sighing in relaxation. Only then did she realize just how stiff she was, and sore. Jeez, it feels like I had a rough night. Slowly, ever so slowly, the evidence built up in her mind. Woke up naked, all sweaty, sore as hell… Her face turned scarlet and she submerged her head under the water to cool off.

She scrubbed her hair with shampoo that smelled curiously like watermelon, and was in the process of rinsing it under the fish's spout when she noticed a black remote control lying incongruously among the flowers and candles. A yellow Post-it was stuck to it. "PRESS PLAY." She picked up the remote and pressed the play button, unsure as to where to aim it, so she aimed at the ceiling, figuring that the signal would ricochet off and hit the desired target. Acoustic guitar seemed to come from all directions. She swiveled around, swirling the water around her before she noticed the small white speakers fastened in every corner, and a CD player tucked away in a cabinet. At least, she guessed it was a CD player. It could have very well been something else, something that hadn't been invented in year that she feel asleep in her dorm room in Goshin Hall that she shared with Mina.

She lay back in the water, her head resting on a foam pillow stuck to the side of the tub with suction cups, and completely and utterly relaxed. An hour passed before she dragged her pruney body out of the now-tepid water, and toweled off, her eyes locked on the array of products lining the counter of the double sinks. The brand names were at least familiar: Rembrandt, Gillette, H2O, MAC. There were others that she didn't recognize. She picked up a razor, still wet and flecked with shaving cream, twirled it between her fingers, and wondered about the hand that picked it up in the morning. She tried to imagine the face it dragged across, the eyes that watched the whole process in the mirror.

She toweled off, blew dry her hair, which fell just a few inches below her shoulders, and opened the glass door to what she figured was another room, but which turned out to be her closet. "Holy crap," she muttered, eyeing the rows of clothes lining the walls: the overflowing shelves and drawers, the rows and rows of shoes, belts hanging from a hanger, coats and formal dresses sealed behind clear plastic bags, handbags gathered together in clusters, lingerie laid out in neat rows. She picked up a pair of tan mid-heels, and caught her breath when she noticed the designer. "Louis Vuitton. Dear lord." She wasted another hour rustling through her clothes, picking through drawers and shelves, and couldn't resist trying on dozens of outfits, some from designers she knew, some she only knew because Mina had modeled for them, and some completely unfamiliar. She put ever article of clothing exactly the way she had found it, not wanting to damage any of it. She finally dressed for the day, resisting the urge to throw on her best designer duds, and slipped on white pants and a sheer white top.

As she passed the doors in the hallway, she was overcome with curiosity about what was behind, but shook it off with the reasoning that she wanted to see her children first, and she would have plenty of time to poke around once she saw them, and took them home. She descended the spiral staircase and noticed that the walls of her majestic living room were completely stripped, and the furniture pulled away from the walls. Sealed cardboard boxes were haphazardly thrown around, like overgrown land mines. She let her mind dwell on it for a split second before she headed to the foyer. Great Gatsby, my room back in Goshin could fit into here! Twice! A pile of shoes sat in front of the French doors, a two pairs of brown sandals, one much larger than the other, and two pairs of pink and yellow, flowered flip flops that fit into Rei's hand. She bent over and picked up one of the miniscule shoes. One of them's a girl. She deduced, turning the rubber sandal over and over again in her hand. A smile teased her face; her spirit was renewed with the urge to see her daughter.

As soon as the glass door shut behind her, Rei realized that she had ventured outside into unfamiliar territory without so much as a dollar, much lest ID. And to top it off, she had probably locked herself out.

I am such a friggin' idiot! How could I be so stupid and lock myself out? I'm making Serena look like Stephen Hawking here! She jiggled the handle ineffectively several times. "Shit!" she shouted, not caring if children or nuns were around.

The door immediately clicked open after her outburst. "What the-" she said, opening the door just to make sure she wasn't imagining things. Suddenly, it dawned. She shut the door again. "Open," she said. It obeyed. It recognizes my voice! Wow!

If only Amy were here to see this!

"There you are." She was still giddy with her newest discovery, and the voice that suddenly spoke up from behind her almost sent her into cardiac arrest. She jumped and swiveled around, almost ready to attack, when she realized she wasn't face to face with the newcomer. She was face to chest.

"Mako?" she said, forgetting her friend's American name.

"Yeah?" It was Lita, all right, not aged a bit, her same Lita. Still a head taller than Rei, her hair fell around her exquisite face in shiny brown ringlets. Her eyes were the same marvelous shade of green, framed by long, feathery lashes that brushed the tan skin of her cheeks when she blinked. She wore a simple blue sundress with a halter top, showing off her tanned legs. Mako was still the same, after God knows many years, except for one minor detail. She held a small girl, about two or three years old, against her hip with the practiced ease of a mother. The girl was adorable, her soft curls and illegally long eyelashes the same as Makoto's, but her eyes were different, a deep, chocolate brown.

Makoto noticed Rei's white face and leaned in closer. "What's the matter? You OK?"

"Aunty Way!" the toddler chirped, holding out her arms. Makoto held her out, and Rei accepted the child with trembling arms. "Hi," she breathed against Rei's cheek.

"Hi," Rei responded, staring into the little girl's brown eyes, trying to hold back the tears in her own. Mako's a mom. Oh, I can't believe it! She kissed her on the nose. "You are so beautiful, darling."

"What do you say, Astraea?" Astraea. Astraea means "Starry."

"Tank you."

"Now get down, Aunty Rei can't carry you the entire way! You're a big girl, you can walk!" Mako smiled down at her daughter, who, once on the ground, reached up to take her mother's hand. Rei caught a glance of Mako's hand, and a diamond as big as Rei's, flanked with two emeralds, winked back at her. Makoto's married, too. I wonder to whom?

"Enjoying your day off? I sure am!" Makoto pronounced in her usual energetic manner. She began walking, and Rei followed. For the first time she looked around, and found that they were walking along a cliff's side, on a stone patio that crept to the edge and was blocked off by a marble railing. Benches were set up periodically along the rail, and also an occasional table. Rei stared down at the forest below, dotted here and there with waterfalls cutting down into pools at the base of the mountain. "What did you do this morning, go insane? This is probably the first time you've been separated from the girls for a period of time."

Girls. They are both girls. "I took a bath."

Makoto tossed her marvelous curls back. "Must be nice! I had Rosey watch Astraea while I soaked, but she kept crying for me to come out. I don't even think I got wet." She looked down at the diamond-encrusted watch around her left wrist. "We're not late, that's Minako's job. Although I don't blame her; her ankles are so swollen she can barely stand."

Something's wrong with Mina? "Is she OK?" Mako rolled her eyes in response.

"She's just being Minako; you know how she exaggerates things!" They headed further inland, through a magnificent grove that stretched out into a simply breathtaking garden, complete with marble fountains and ponds, gazebos and probably billions of flowers, trees, and bushes. Astraea let go of her mother's hand and ran ahead. "Aunty Mi! Aunty Mi!" They rounded a corner to see Mako's daughter fling herself into the arms of a petite, blue-haired girl that wouldn't blend into any crowd on earth.

"Hello, Astraea," Ami hugged the little girl, mini-computer still clasped in one hand. Her blue hair was still cropped short, her skin still luminescently pale. But there was a huge difference; Ami was smiling, not the same sad smile of her youth, but a grin of contentment and happiness, and total fulfillment with her life. Rei figured it had something to do with the rings around her fourth finger, too. She pulled Astraea up onto the stone bench next to her. "Ami," Rei said a little too seriously. In reality, she was choking back more tears. Amy, if you could see yourself now. You're so happy; you're married—someone rustled behind her and then flew past towards the bench. And you have a son. "Mommy!" The little boy couldn't have been more than three, his blonde hair sticking up in an Alfalfa-like cowlick in the back. To Rei's horror, she saw that he was clasping a very big, very large, very black and antennaed click beetle in his hand. "Mommy I found that bug!"

Ami held out her cupped hand to receive the bug. Rei choked back a wave of revulsion. She held it up to her face. "Hmm, same exoskeletal pattern, antennae, mandibles…" She smiled and kissed her son's forehead. "Very good, Evander. Why don't you show Aunty Rei?" Let's not show Aunty Rei. Rei thought as Evander ran up to her with the scary beetle in tow. He held up his hand, and his green eyes glittered with triumph. "See?"

"Yes, I see, that's nice please get it away from me, thank you," Rei said all in one breath. Evander cupped the beetle in his hand and ran up to Makoto.

"See?"

"Dear lord get that thing away from me!"

"Evander." He turned at the sound of his mother's voice. "Why don't you let the bug go? You're scaring your aunts." Evander held the beetle to his chest. "But I want to show Daddy." "We can catch another one later, OK, sweetie?" He nodded reluctantly and placed the beetle gently in the grass.

The tears that had been threatening to overflow in Rei's eyes broke free and splashed down her face. Her throat constricted; she remembered how she and the others felt in the past. Usagi was destined to be with the man of her dreams, and the four of them, well, they were just kind of there. Alone. Destined, she thought, for a life of guarding their princess, establishing peace throughout the earth, defending against outside threats…forever solitary. Rei had lain awake at night; just as she knew the other inners did, wondering if happiness, if LOVE, would ever drift her way, or instead forever dangle just out of reach. Who would want to be with someone whose main concern was not their partner or themselves, but for Serenity, always Serenity. How could a normal person understand the position that she was in, and who would want to share in that kind of life? Who did she know that even had an idea of what undying devotion was? These questions intensified Rei's need for the identity of her life partner. What, did I marry a Secret Service agent or something? And yet, here they were, with rings on their hands and children at their feet. Ami had lost the squelched, defeated look that she carried, and Makoto had slid effortlessly into the role of wife and mother. Rei could tell just by the way she wiped down the children's hands with a Wet-Nap.

Makoto was the first to notice her tears. "Oh God!" She jumped off the bench and swept Rei into a mammoth hug. "Oh," Ami breathed, also rising. "Rei are you OK?" Astraea and Evander ran over and wrapped their arms around each of Rei's legs, chirping, "Aunty Way. Shh-shh," in an imitation of their own mothers. "Yes," she croaked before Makoto interrupted.

"It's because of the girls, isn't it?" She rambled on without receiving a solid response. "Oh, Rei hon, I know it's hard to be separated from them, and it's natural to feel this way. But you haven't spent a night alone with your man in lord knows how long, and you need some down time. Come on, admit it. You had the time of your life in the bathtub this morning!"

"Not to mention last night," a third voice said from behind Rei. There was only one person who would blurt something out like that, like the rules of etiquette didn't exist in the subject of love and sex.

Minako was as breathtaking as ever, the classic blue-eyes blond with enough je nois ques so to elevate her to goddess. She even managed to look good while being dragged, halfway unconscious and completely polluted, up the stairs of Goshin Hall, Rei remembered bitterly. Her hair was curled into soft waves at the ends, and they bounced whenever she took a step. Minako still managed to bounce when she walked, which was quite remarkable now, being that she had to be at least eight months pregnant.

Rei was struck speechless by the sight of her best friend in the family way, and was about to say something when Makoto released her and turned on Minako.

"That's what got you into your condition!"

"Darn right," Minako giggled, running a hand through her blond mass. The yellow diamond on her ring finger caught the light and twinkled. "Hope you guys don't mind I dressed down; my back is killing me!" A gray, hooded sweatshirt stretched over her round Buddha belly, emblazoned with two Greek letters. Delta Zeta. She still has her DZ sweatshirt. Her shorts were light blue, mesh, incredibly old, and emblazoned with an UCLA logo in the corner. Hey! I think those are my shorts! Dan from down the hall lent, uh, I mean, GAVE them to me after I spilled coffee on mine during Comp Lit!

Astraea and Evander released their death grips around Rei's legs and sprinted over to Minako. "Aunty Na-na!" She lowered herself with obvious effort. "Hi guys!" She hugged and kissed both of them. Evander ran over to retrieve the click beetle, which had moved and entire inch from where it was placed five minutes ago.

"Aunty Na-na! I want to show you something!"

"If it's another dead bird, I going to have to politely decline." She straightened up and elbowed Rei. "So, how was your twenty-four hours of un-interruption?"

Makoto smiled. "Next time I'm having Serenity watch my kid, too. I really envy you."

Ami smoothed her long flowered skirt down. She wore a white tank top that showed quite a lot of cleavage, uncharacteristic of the old Ami Mizuno. Then again, I almost left the house wearing leather Versace pants and a booty-ho top. I guess everyone gets a little crazy when they find out they suddenly have breasts after years of water-bras. "I think Rei deserves it; she doesn't have a moment's peace between the two of them."

"Yeah, it's weird, Rei. They both look exactly like you, but they sure don't act like you!" Makoto scampered behind Ami. "Drop the bug, Evander."

"They act like their father!" Minako giggled, and everyone except the toddlers and Rei burst out laughing. Heat ignited under her skin. Will someone please tell me who he is before I scream? Everyone else seems to know!

"There they are!" a female voice called. Rei turned to see who it was, and immediately froze.

Two little girls were running directly towards her, each chirping, "Mommy! Mommy!" in their high baby voices. The hair trailing behind them was as black as the night sky; their eyes a paler shade of violet than Rei's own. They were both the same height, the same age (about four) and most remarkable, they shared one face.

Twins. I have twins. More tears leaked out of Rei's eyes, the eyes she shared with her daughters. She knelt down and let the girls run into her open arms while she sobbed against their small heads. She inhaled the scent of baby shampoo and milk, the smell of infancy and youth. They nestled against her neck like baby birds.

"Mommy! We missed you!" one proclaimed, reaching up fingering a long black lock of her mother's hair.

"Aunty Ree made us waffles!" the other announced, completely unaware that her mother was having what equivocated to an emotional breakdown from meeting her progeny for the first time. "And Callie used up all the whipped cream!"

"I did not!" The one named Callie lifted her head up and scowled at her twin.

"Mommy she didn't save me any!" Thus commenced a four-year-old's argument, filled with "did nots" and "do toos," until Rei was suddenly thankful that Serenity kept them overnight. "Clio! Calliope! Cut it out!" Serenity appeared overhead. "I went and got more, remember?" She smiled, her expression more mature than any other that she wore in the past. She exuded peace and authority, and the twins fell silent in Rei's arms. She looked up at her princess, now queen, down on her knees in front of her sovereign. Usagi had grown up, now she was a queen in every sense of the word, authority in every graceful step, every fluid gesture. Rei didn't know how long she spent kneeling in the grass in front of her Queen, awestruck by the transformation of the whiny, air-headed girl she knew in her youth to the regal, elegant woman standing before her. It felt like an eternity, until Serenity opened her mouth, and instead of a proper statement, Rei was rewarded with:

"For the record, I was the one who used the last of the whipped cream."

A small, pink haired head popped up from behind Serenity, and Rei's heart leapt into her throat. Chibi-Usa! It's been a long time! Chibi-Usa was younger than Rei remembered her, maybe six at the most. She bounced her Luna ball idly. "When can we eat, Mommy?"

"Yeah, let's head over," Minako said. "I'm starving." "That's a surprise," Makoto deadpanned, voicing what Rei had been thinking. Calliope (Callie) and Clio raced over to the blond girl. "Aunty Na-na! Can I feel the baby?" They pressed their small hands against Minako's bulging middle.

"I think she's sleeping," Minako said. "She hasn't kicked me in a while-OK never mind. Field goal." She rubbed her stomach. They began walking down the stone path, each of Rei's hands occupied with one of her daughter's. "You know it's a girl?" Rei's question came out more like a statement. Ami spoke before Minako had a chance to answer.

"No, she THINKS it's a girl. She wouldn't let me check and she swore my to confidentiality if I knew."

"Do you know?" Serenity asked teasingly.

"I plead the fifth," Ami said, scooping up Evander, who had been begging to be carried.

"But you WOULD tell us, right?" Makoto said.

"Guys stop!" Minako burst out. "I'm her mother, and I know certain things, and I'm completely positive that she's a girl. I can feel it. Call it motherly instinct or whatever."

Curious, Rei let her body relax, her mind open up, and tried to catch some psychic signals from Minako's body. She felt the presence of everyone around her in turn, and when she focused on Minako, she almost burst out laughing. She was giving off a veritable A-bomb of masculine energy; the baby she carried was definitely male. Should I tell her? She snuck a peek at Minako's face, and then remembered how she had to drag her sorry, drunken ass up the stairs of their dorm. Nah, I'll let her find out on her own. I just hope she didn't decorate the nursery yet.

Meanwhile, Rei was completely fascinated with the feel of her daughters' tiny hands in her own. She squeezed each of them in turn; her eyes still prickling from unshed emotion. She had just met them, yet she loved them so purely and so deeply that she half-wished she could stay in this fantasy world that she woke up in, real or not. It's too real to be a fantasy. She rationalized. This has to be real. Their hands were small and hot in her own. It has to.

They reached their destination shortly after, a sort of double-porch swing with a table in between, covered with a white canvas canopy. Nearby, a clothed table was covered in food, every morsel more decadent than the starchy dorm food Rei was used to. A young girl was just finishing laying everything out as a toddler at her feet pulled at her skirts. Callie and Clio let go of Rei's hands and ran towards the swing/table, followed by Chibi-Usa, who was tall enough to climb on the padded seat herself. "Mommy! Help me!" Clio called. Rei smiled as she correctly identified her daughter, like she had really been doing it for four years instead of ten minutes. Clio had slightly rounder eyes and a higher mouth than her twin, and her hair was cut about an inch shorter. Serenity must have dressed them in matching outfits, because I could never be that cruel. Just as she suspected, the next words out of Serenity's mouth were: "Don't they look cute dressed alike, Rei? You should do it more often." Rolling her eyes, Rei lifted Clio up and placed her on the swing, which Chibi-Usa was already starting to rock back and forth. Rei had a feeling it was going to be a nauseous lunch with the perpetual boat-like movement.

"'More often' would be once, Serenity, because she never does it," Makoto said, sliding in after Ami. "Why don't you sit down and join us, Rosey? You hungry?"

The girl smiled and picked up the baby. "Love to, but Tyreke needs his nap. He's been fussing for an hour now." She waved one of Tyreke's arms at the group. "Ja ne, minna! See you tonight, Mako." "Later, Rose," Makoto said, over Astraea's thunderous "BYE!" "Let's eat," Serenity announced, making a beeline for the table heaped with food. Her ravenous expression was reminiscent of her younger self. "Oh, Mako, it could be one year or a thousand, but I'll never get sick of your chicken salad!"

Minako picked up a piece of cantaloupe and dipped it in the chicken salad. "Mmm, you're right. This is steller, Mako." Makoto wrinkled her face up. "That was nauseating, Minako.

Please don't abuse my chicken salad that way."

They settled down to eat, Rei finding that it was a particularly difficult endeavor feeding two four-year-olds who absolutely could not sit still for more than four seconds at a time. She had wisely separated them so that she was in the middle, and Minako was on Callie's left, and Serenity was on Clio's right. Ami and Makoto sat on opposite sides of the other swing, their children and Chibi-Usa in the middle.

Rei watched her friends giggle and gossip, stopping occasionally to wipe faces or cut up fruit. She thought of how she could ask about the man she was married to without making it completely obvious that she had no idea who he was. How can I find out without sounding like a lunatic? "Oh, hey, guys, whose children am I the mother of, because I woke up this morning and just plumb forgot! Silly me!" There would be a two second pause before Ami had her committed. As soon as I get home, I am TEARING the place apart and finding out! I don't care how many of those stupid boxes I have to open!

An idea dawned. "I wonder what Daddy is doing right now?"

She posed the question to Callie, wondering how she would handle it. Callie merely swallowed her mouthful of juice and declared, "Sleeping."

The table erupted in laughter, first at Callie's response and then towards the fact that Serenity choked on her iced tea from laughing so hard. Minako gasped, "Oh my gosh, she knows him so well!" Rei forced a smile as to not look completely lost. Ami tried to calm down. "He still falls asleep during those meetings just like he used to during class! We all had that speech class together, well, except you, Rei, and whenever I looked up at you guys, his head was down and he was out!"

Rei flipped through her mental catalogue. I don't have speech this semester. But this means I meet him during college! See, now I'm getting somewhere!

"Can I go play, Mommy?" Evander tugged on Ami's arm and pleaded with her with his impossibly big, impossibly green eyes. Whoever Ami's married to, he obviously is a green-eyed blond. Who do I know with green eyes and blond hair? And how does Ami keep from hugging him all the time? He's so adorable!

Obviously, Ami couldn't help but hug him all the time, because she enveloped him in her arms and planted a kiss on his head. "OK, sweetie, but stay within the hedges. I'll be watching you." "OK," he agreed, wiggling to the end of the bench. Clio and Callie instantly started in on Rei.

"MOMMY CAN WE GO TOO PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE…"

"Yes, sure, go on," she said hurriedly, for the sake of her ears. She let her hand drift down Callie's hair as the small girl leapt off the bench and joined the other children.

"Watch them, Chibi-Usa," Serenity instructed. The pink-haired girl turned and solemnly nodded.

"I will Mommy." She held out her hand for Astraea to hold. "Why don't I do that for you?" The speaker had been standing on the opposite side of the bench, and nearly scared Rei half to death. She swiveled around to face a young girl with a neat fringe of black hair, deep violet eyes, and toting a large book in one hand. "Hotaru?" she whispered.

"Hotaru!" Chibi-Usa threw her arms around the older girl.

"Can we play jump-rope?"

Hotaru smiled, the smile a shade reminiscent of the haunted, hollow look she wore when Rei had first met her, years ago in Japan. Except this time, it wasn't so much haunted as…guilty. Sure enough, Serenity spoke up. "Last time I checked, it was Monday, and traditionally, isn't Monday a school day, hmm?" Hotaru flushed the color of beets. "Oh, yes, I know."

"Who said you could skip?"

"Well, actually, it was King Endy-"

"I knew it!" Serenity puffed up. "He would be the one to declare some kind of holiday just to get you out of class! Let me guess, he had some support from his 'advisors,' didn't he?" Hotaru scratched the toe of her shoe in the grass. "Well, yes, except for-" "My 'advisor,'" Minako finished. Hotaru nodded. "Yeah, he's no fun, isn't he?"

"Do your parents know?" Ami asked, sweeping crumbs off of the table with a red cloth napkin.

"I think so."

"Are they enjoying their day off?"

"Yeah. I think they wanted to spent it alone, though, so I grabbed a book and took off."

"Oh, when you go home tonight, could you tell Michiru that I have her stone baking circle?" Makoto said. "She left it at my place; I'll give it to her tomorrow when I see her." "I don't even think that Mama knows that it's missing," Hotaru said. Now Callie and Clio were tugging on her arms. "Should I watch them? I really don't mind."

Serenity waved one of her slender arms. "Sure, go ahead, you are absolved. Just make sure the little ones don't get anywhere near the pond."

Rei watched the back of Hotaru's head retreat down to a grassy clearing, a thousand unanswered questions cluttering up her head. Minako and Makoto started giggling about some private joke, and Ami swept crumbs off of the table and onto a napkin. Serenity's voice broke into her thoughts.

"You need some help with the painting, Rei? How's it coming along?"

Rei's head snapped up. "The painting?"

"Is the girls' room done yet? I could always keep them another night if the fumes are too much."

"Why don't you just HIRE someone? It would be so much easier that way." Minako, always concerned about comfort and convenience, settled into a corner of the swing and ran a hand through her spectacular hair.

Rei had no answer. What could she say when she didn't know herself? Her mind reeled for an excuse that wouldn't sound too shoddy. Makoto was her unexpected savior. "She DID hire someone for the girls' room, but I mean, come on? How hard is it to paint two rooms white? There's not too much room for error. Besides…" She plucked a grape off of a bunch and crunched it. "It gets the kids out for a night, so she and Big J could have a night of uninterrupted sex. You don't have kids yet, Minako, you don't know what it's like." Big J? I married a truck driver?

Minako giggled again. "Why, did Astraea ever burst in on you?" Makoto popped another grape into her mouth and grinned. "She's a good kid. She didn't even ask why we were naked." It came as a shock to Rei that Ami, quiet, shy Ami, was grinning from ear to ear. "What did you do?"

"I gave her a hug, told her it was just a dream, sent her back to bed, and then we picked up where we left off."

The swing exploded into laughter, except for Rei, who was fitting clues together like an old man with a jigsaw puzzle. Big J? Is this guy four hundred pounds or something? I need some answers and I need them now!

"Evander caught us in the bathroom once," Ami admitted, the red blush creeping up to her hairline.

"You're kidding!" Serenity squealed, a sound reminiscent of her junior high persona.

"No. Unfortunately, he knows how the whole process works, so now he thinks he's going to have a little brother or sister." "Is he?" Mako's green eyes were serious. Ami leaned her head back against the cushioned backrest and stared idly at the children and Hotaru throwing a beach ball back and forth.

"No." Everyone's eyes followed Ami's, and they stared out at the scene on the lawn.

Once again, as it had done many times before, Rei's mouth opened and words came out that she had no control of. "You want to have more, Ami? Are you crazy?" She silently cringed; it was obviously a touchy issue for her, and her stupid comment had probably made things worse.

Luckily, everyone simply laughed, including Ami. "You're just speaking from your experiences," Serenity gasped. "Those girls run you ragged."

"Twins alone are a handful," Minako stated, like she was an experienced mother of twelve. "But both of them are so much like him; they barely have any attention span."

OK, so I'm obviously married to a guy who is 400 pounds and has ADD. I'm doing really well here.

"OK, that's enough about our marriage and kids! That's all we talk about anyway, and this is our day off!" Serenity settled back, a satisfied smile upon her face. Rei internally screamed. NO! Let's talk about our husbands. Moreover, let's talk about MY husband. Like, for example, who the hell is he? "So…what do you want to talk about?" Makoto asked. Serenity squealed. "Other people!" They launched into an all-out gossip-fest, Rei slouching silently and doing nothing more than listening. Some names she recognized; most she didn't. The time with her friends seemed to fly by; the next thing she knew, Astraea was crying and Makoto proclaimed, "It's time for someone's nap."

They gathered their respective children, Clio and Callie throwing themselves at Rei and fastening their hands to her wrists. "Are we going home now, Mommy?"

"Yes. Mommy has things to do." Like tear through some boxes.

Minako waddled over. "Want me to walk you home?" Rei nodded. "See you later!" Makoto held a hiccupping Astreae against her chest and carried her away. Ami waved with her one available hand, the other holding Evander's.

"Bye, Aunty Way! Aunty Na-na!" Rei noted that a new click beetle was wriggling between his fingers.

"Goodbye guys! Call me later!" Serenity gave Rei a quick hug.

"Thank you for watching them," Rei said humbly. "I hope it wasn't too much trouble…" Serenity waved dismissively. "Never, Rei! They listen to me, for some reason!" She rounded up Chibi-Usa and Hotaru. "Have a good night!"

Rei and Minako set off, Rei flanked on either side by her twins. Minako walked stiffly, her foresaid swollen ankles hindering her progress. "You OK, Minako?"

"Yeah," she gave a soft laugh. "Just sick of being pregnant." "How much longer?" Clio grabbed one of Rei's hands and began swinging it.

Minako lifted her face and closed her eyes, letting her hair spill down her back like a golden waterfall. "About a month now." She opened them, still staring at a point far ahead. "I'm scared to death." Normally, Rei would offer some words of support and appease her best friend's worries, but being that she had woken up in a strange place and time, and motherhood had been thrust upon her, she really didn't know what to say. Instead, she looked down at her little girls, who were skipping happily and singing a nonsense song together. "Minako, I don't know what the hell I'm doing either, and these two turned out pretty well."

Minako smiled. "You've had them for a while, you basically know all the ropes. I'm the last one of us to have children; you would have thought I've had some practice at it. But I mean, after it's all over you guys pack up the kids and go home, and this one doesn't go with someone else. This one's mine, it's coming home with me, and I don't know what I'm doing."

Unexpectedly, Rei reached over and enveloped Minako in her arms. "Just by saying all that, I know you care. And you're going to know what to do, believe me, you're not going to screw this kid up." "I hope not," Minako said into Rei's hair. "I really want this kid out of me, though. I don't think my ankles can take much more before they break."

"Try being pregnant with twins," Rei laughed. OK, I really don't know what it's like, either, but it has to be worse. I mean, come on, check out my stretch marks!

"Thanks Rei," Minako said when they got to her front door. "I'm going to call you later and lament more of my pregnancy woes, so be prepared."

"Gee, thanks," Rei said dryly, her voice unlatching the door, which swung open. Minako waved and set off, her blond hair blowing around her, and Rei's mind suddenly cross-referenced Minako now with Mina lying in her bed back in Goshin Hall. She dwelt on the dual image for a few minutes, checking the hair, the smile, the walk, everything, until she realized what hadn't changed. "She didn't gain any weight," Rei grumbled as she followed her girls inside.

Rei's ultimate intention upon arriving back home was to rip open every cardboard box she could lay her hand on and find out just what in God's green earth was going on, but she hadn't added two squabbly four year old twins into the grand equation, and her plan was almost immediately put on hold.

"Can we go into our room now, Mommy?" Clio asked, climbing onto one of the couches and jumping, her black hair whipping up and down every time she flew into the air.

"Get down from there!" Rei said, images of Clio falling off and cracking her head against the floor running through her mind. "You know you're not supposed to jump on the furniture."

"Mommy can I have some peanut butter?" Callie had wandered into the pantry and was opening cabinet doors.

"What? No Callie, you just ate."

"But I want some!"

Pick your battles, Rei. "OK, fine, what do you want it on?" She joined Callie in the pantry and pulled a box down. "Crackers?" "Animal crackers!" Rei began searching for animal crackers, and a familiar springing sound emanated from the living room. "Clio! I told you not to jump on the couch!"

"I'm not," came the contrite answer.

"Yes you are, I can hear you." She arranged the animal crackers on a plate and spread a layer of tan paste across them. "Play with us, Mommy!" Callie grabbed Rei's pant leg and began tugging it up and down.

"All right, I will. Settle down." Obviously the phrase "settle

down" was thrown around quite a bit in Rei's household, because Callie

began chanting it over and over, with Clio joining her, keeping beat

by jumping on the couch.

"Enough!" Rei shouted over the din. As an afterthought, she reached into the fridge and produced two juice boxes. "Who wants juice?"

"ME ME ME ME ME…"

The girls led Rei back upstairs and into their room, which still smelled faintly of paint fumes. Her breath was almost knocked away by the sight of it; it was her little-girl fantasy bedroom. Enormous canopy beds stood on either side, both festooned with enough billowy white material to make wedding dresses for an army. A mural stretched across the walls, aqua and violet and green; a meadow at midnight, complete with pond and turreted castle in the distance, with pixie-ish fairies dancing on the grass and lily pads. Two of them wore pink tutus and silver crowns, and were seated in the middle of creamy flowers so white they looked edible. Rei noted with amusement that they bore the likenesses of Clio and Callie.

Someone had criss-crossed the ceiling with white Christmas lights, and Rei was reminded of almost every dorm room in Bryce University. A moon was painted directly overhead, and a light globe was stuck in the middle.

"WOW! MOMMY LOOK!" Clio had spotted the fairy that looked like her, and she pressed her hand against it, fascinated. "This one's me!" "There's you, Mommy!" Callie announced from the other side of the room. Rei made her way over, and sure enough, away in the background was a cluster of adult fairies. Rei picked herself out immediately.

"I told the lady to put you in, Mommy!" Clio said triumphantly.

"And Aunty Na-na and Aunty Mi and Aunty Ree and Aunty Ko!" Rei laughed; she could just imagine the twins describing their idea to a hapless artist. "You didn't have to do that." Callie looked confused. "But if you weren't there, Mommy, who would take us home?"

Whoever had painted and arranged the room had left several boxes tightly packed up, and while the girls were running around, examining every inch of their new room, Rei took the opportunity to rip open the packing tape and dig in.

The first box was filled with outgrown clothes, and she ignored it after a minute. She skipped over the second box altogether, since it was labeled, "Baby toys," and moved onto the third. It was contained mostly baby-ish wall decorations: framed pictures of Winnie-the-Pooh, poetry written in calligraphy so overdone it was practically illegible, pastel paintings that had no place among the new mural. Rei found only two pictures that contained any significance. The first picture sent little shock waves down her spine. Rei was standing in the middle, in a flowing white dress that hugged her body in the desired places. She clasped a thick bouquet of Casablancas, tied together with a red ribbon that looked like it could have come off of Minako's head. Her friends flanked her on either side, dressed identically in dark purple gowns and clutching deep red roses. Serenity's hair was down and her stomach bulged under her dress. Oh my lord!! It's my wedding day! Rei herself was flashing a mega-watt smile, her expression completely radiant, and her dark midnight hair swirling in loose curls around her head. And damn, do I look good! She stared, transfixed by her own ethereal appearance before she turned her attention to the other picture. And lost her breath.

Her grandfather was sitting in a white rocking chair, his ancient face crossed with a million lines of glee. His eyes sparkled lovingly in the way they always had whenever he looked at Rei. Tucked in each of his arms were two infants, probably only a day or two old, their tiny faces pink under a dusting of dark black fuzz. "Oh," she breathed. Grandpa? Where is he? Does he live with me? Why didn't I think to look for him earlier? God, sometimes I even disgust myself.

Clio ran over to Rei and peeked over her mother's shoulder. "Look, that's me." She pressed one tiny finger on the glass, leaving behind a steamy fingerprint on the infant in Grandpa's left arm. "And that's Callie."

Callie joined the gathering. "Grandpa!" she shrieked when she saw the picture. "Can we put Grandpa back up, Mommy? I need him to watch me when I go to bed."

Rei swallowed thickly. "Where is Grandpa now, girls?" Callie leapt on her bed with the picture clasped in her hands and started bouncing. What is it with these girls and jumping on furniture? "In his room."

"Let's go see him!" Clio jumped up and took off, Rei and Callie on her heels.

Rei followed her tiny daughter through the halls of her home. Clio stopped at a set of double wooden doors, taller than a normal household doorway, and tried futilely to push them open. Rei helped her, her stomach churning with guilt. Did I leave him home alone? How could I have been so thoughtless?

Only a small fire in the back illuminated the room; its flickering flame surrounded by straw mats. The smell of incense hung in the air along with a thousand whispered pReirs, the words and smells melding together into an entirely separate being. There's the sacred fire, so where's Grandpa?

Rei's question was soon answered when Clio darted over to a shrine in a far corner. "Hi Grandpa!" she said, trying to disguise her jubilant shout as a solemn whisper, and failing. "You have to come and see our room!"

Callie sidled up to her twin, and took her hand. "It's the same room, it's just painted different, so we didn't move. I don't want you to get lost tonight."

Rei hung back for a second, and then slowly, so slowly she advanced on the shrine. Please no. No. Her throat constricted, and she tried to concentrate on her daughters instead of the shrine. Please. Don't let it be true. Please. She stopped about five feet away, reading the names inside of the shrine. Her mother's was still there; it had been there as long as she could remember. Several other names existed there; relatives that Rei had never met. No. Oh God.

And there it was: her grandfather's name, painted in black ink on the wooden tablet. "Grandpa," she said simply, falling heavily to her knees and causing her daughters to turn around. "No." She broke down then, sobbing into her hands, her hair falling around her face like a curtain. Her twins were on her immediately, grabbing onto her and squeezing their comforting baby hugs. She wrapped an arm around each of them and pulled them to her, still sobbing onto their heads.

Rei rustled through another box in the living room, occasionally wiping away a stray tear that managed to slip out, and almost aborted the entire plan after she found it filled with still-life paintings. Her entire being was numb after her half-hour long cry, her mind still not accepting the fact that the person who had raised her since childhood was gone. A million "whys" plagued at her: Why didn't I spend more time with Grandpa? Why didn't I go to college in Japan instead of taking off to the States? Why didn't I tell him I loved him more often? The twins were jumping on the couch again as they watched some television program starring a multitude of furry puppets, one who lived in a garbage can and another with a penchant for baked goods. Rei let them trampoline to their heart's content; she was too tired to tell them for the five hundredth time to stop jumping. Plus maybe they'll wear themselves out. She reached for another box and tore it open.

"AHHH! THE COUNT!" The twins screamed, scurrying off the couch and throwing themselves behind it. On the flat, digital screen, a puppet that strongly resembled a vampire was singing a numerical song about bats in his Transylvanian accent. The box she opened did contain pictures; however, all but one was of the twins. She and her Grandfather were standing on the steps of the Hikawa Shrine, both smiling in the direct sunlight. Phobos and Deimos were standing on different stairs, Phobos with her wings outstretched. The large, framed picture was a blow-up; the original snapshot was tucked into the frame. The photographer was obviously inept; his finger was covering the lower left corner of the lens. It had been erased when the picture had been blown up. Rei stared at the happy scene in front of her, and flipped the small picture over. "Rei and her grandfather at the temple," it was labeled, along with a date. Rei did some quick math. She was twenty years old when the picture was taken. I'm only eighteen when I fell asleep in my dorm. This is taken two years into the future.

Rei went over to the couch and sat down, the pictures still in her hands. "Mommy is the Count gone yet?" Clio whispered from behind her. Rei quickly checked the TV.

"Yes." The twins emerged, plopping on the couch on either side of their mother. Callie balanced her chin on Rei's arm. "Why did you cry Mommy?" Rei smiled and stroked her daughter's soft hair.

"I just miss Grandpa, sweetheart."

Clio leaned her entire body weight against Rei's side.

"Why? He still lives here."

"He stays in our room when we go to bed," Callie explained.

"So nothing can hurt us."

Rei's eyes teared up again. She could just picture her grandfather importantly patrolling around their room, like a soldier, guarding his great-granddaughters from nightmares and monsters. "He used to do that when I was a little girl. He would sit in my room until I fell asleep, so I wouldn't be scared." She had been so scared then, a young girl all alone with a grandfather she barely remembered, her mother gone forever, and her father too, as far as she cared. She was terrified of the unfamiliar darkness of her new room in the temple. In her mind, she thought that when people came to pray to their deceased relatives, the ghosts would stay around the temple, in particular, her room, waiting for her to let her guard down. Grandpa had come when he heard her sobbing.

"Don't be scared, Rei. I'll stay here and make sure nothing hurts you."

"What about the ghosts? They're waiting for me." "Bah! Those ghosts? They're scared of me; I've got them shaking in their boots. They'll never hurt you as long as I'm here." "Who's going to keep them away now?" Rei asked out loud, wondering if her grandfather could hear her. She swung her legs up and lay down on the couch, and her twins adjusted themselves so that they lay on top of her. She closed her eyes. "You will, Rei. She heard her grandfather's gentle voice in her head. "Now it's your turn to keep the ghosts away."

She opened her eyes and smiled through her tears. She had a family now, one she had to protect the way her grandfather had protected her. She looked at the faces of her twins, tiny versions of her own, and loved them so much that it almost hurt. I love you two. I'll never let anything hurt you. Something primal stirred within her at the feel of her daughter's small bodies pressed against her own, something that made the rest of the world seem unimportant as she cradled them against her. It's my turn to keep the ghosts away. I love you both so much. You're my babies. The three of them drifted off to sleep basking in the simplest, purest form of love that existed, the love between a mother and her children.

Rei heard the bang in the background, a door slam somewhere, and suddenly the comforting warmth of her twins disappeared as they leapt off of her. "DADDY!" they shrieked, their voices seeming to come from very far away. She barely stirred, her mind and body too exhausted to lift herself up from the subterranean caverns of sleep.

"Clio-patra!" a male voice said. There was a shriek of glee as Clio was lifted up into the air.

"Pick me up too, Daddy!" Callie's request sounded a bit like an order; she had inadvertently picked up the practice from her mother. "Sure thing, Cal Ripken, Jr. Step right up."

Rei's mind swam as she made the inferences. Clio.

Cleopatra. Patra. Calliope. Callie. Cal. Cal Ripken, Jr. Ripken. "How are my girls?" Rei's eyes remained slammed shut; she couldn't place the voice. Get up, Rei. You have to see him. Get up now.

The twins launched into chatter about their picnic, their new room, their night spent with Serenity, punctuated with hysterical giggles as their father tickled them. "Where's your Mom?" "Mommy's sad," Clio whispered. Rei heard the "thunk" as she slipped out of her father's arms and landed on the floor. "Oh? Why is she sad?"

"She misses Grandpa," Callie announced. The patter of tiny footsteps drew nearer to the couch. "Mommy! Wake up Daddy's home." As much as she willed it, Rei could not bring herself to open her eyes. Her body felt like a ton of lead, and even her brain seemed to slow down with exhaustion. Wake up, Rei, wake up. She felt the tremors of someone approaching, then kneeling down besides her. "Rei?" he said, stroking her face with one of his rough hands.

"Mmm," she mumbled, slipping in and out of the physical world, her mind screaming for her to wake up, her body retiring right where she lay. His hand traced down her cheek and to her neck, the light pressure and heat oddly familiar.

"Mommy's tired," Clio said, grabbing a handful of Rei's hair and flipping it upwards.

"Ooh! Daddy! Wake her up like Sleeping Beauty!" "OK, Cal," he agreed. Rei felt his face grow closer, and then his lips on hers, gentle, warm, loving. Rei didn't want it to end.

Finally, her eyelids obeyed, and as her husband, the father of her children, pulled his face back, her eyes opened. Their faces were inches apart, her eyes locked on twinkling pools of blue. She was transfixed with his eyes, filled with so much love, for her.

Out of her peripheral vision she could make out blond hair, but

she focused on his eyes, his eyes so blue and friendly, containing

a fire so much like her own, like their children's. So blue, blue

like water and sky…

blue like a Crayola crayon, framed with darker blond lashes, smiling and dancing, the smell of tangerine body spray, and freshly washed hair.

What?

"Mina?" Rei croaked at the face hovering above hers.

Where-where did he go?

Mina's face creased into a smile as she flipped her blond hair backwards. "There you are! I thought you were going to sleep away the entire day!"

Rei sat up, her mind still disoriented. "What-happened?" Mina flopped back on her bed, littered with textbooks and paper, and picked up the remote control. "What happened? You've slept half the day away, that's what happened. It's already one o' clock, and I'm trying to figure out all of this stupid chemistry before the exam, and I'm getting absolutely nowhere." Rei's eyes searched the room frantically, looking for something she couldn't quite place. The sound of laughter stuck in her mind, little girls laughing at some shared secret. The feel of someone's lips on hers.

"What were you dreaming about?" Mina asked innocently while she idly flipped through the channels. Rei's head shot up. "The hot TKE?"

"I-" Rei started. Whatever her dream had been about, it was leaking rapidly out of her mind like water out of a broken pipe. "I don't remember." Something tugged at her again, not an image so much as a sensation.

Mina shrugged. "Want to go get something to eat? I could use something hot." She held out a box. "Pop-Tart? I've been munching on them all morning."

Rei reached out and took the box. She tore the foil off of the double package, and turned the sugary pastry over in her hand, watching the colorful sprinkles float off and land on her bedspread. She broke it in half, and brought a piece up to her face and inhaled, the sticky scent of fake strawberry. "Thanks Mina."

I wake up scared,

I wake up strange,

and everything around me stays the same.

Barenaked Ladies


End file.
